Actually the default user now tends to be 'apache' but of course the logic is correct. $! will reveal the error if it fails (usually Permission Denied).

#!/usr/bin/perl

my $file = '/path/to/some/file';
open FILE, ">$file" or die_nice( "Could not open $file, Reason $!\n" )
+;
print FILE "Woo-hoo!";
close FILE;
print header(), "<h2>Wrote $file OK</h2>";

sub die_nice( print header(), shift; exit }

sub header { return "Content-type: text/html\n\n" }
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tachyon

s&&rsenoyhcatreve&&&s&n.+t&"$'$`$\"$\&"&ee&&y&srve&&d&&print